Nov 26, 2014

3D Systems also presented a new high precision 3d scanner: the Capture Mini. It works with blue LED structured light scanner paired with Geomagic software and it is optimized for small parts in industrial / professional design enviroment.

Nov 22, 2014

Atom is a very simple and low cost extruder developed in Egypt. It has few parts and it is cut from 3mm plywood. For heating block it uses scrap aluminum plate cut to 20mm x 20mm x 10mm and M6 brass bolt for nozzle.

Here are detailed instructions, files for cutting the plywood and BOM:

Nov 20, 2014

If you are interested in cars, car hacking, car repair, hypermiling, modding, car tuning and have access to any type of 3d printer this video will give you lots of useful tips, information and practical examples. You could theoretically make any plastic part needed for your car and customize it to fit your needs.

Webinar is presented by Tyler Reid, it is focused on Stratasys technology but the knowledge and is applicable to other 3d printers.

German RepRap just released their stand-alone 3d print server control unit. It can be used from web interface from any computer or smartphone, it connects to the internet via WiFi or LAN cable and with three USB ports to the controlled 3d printer. Web camera monitoring is also available via USB ports.

It is priced at 149 euro.

Is it too much? Maybe ... you can make something similar with Raspberry Pi and other similar devices from less money. I would like to see more test to see if there are any advantages like in stability, processing or reliability.

Here is a new movement module in form of a Cre8tor Industries 13" or 21" linear rail guided positioning axis with only 2.5 microns backlash. It could be used in machine development and very likely in functional digital fabrication unit (CNC or 3d printer).

Technical specifications:

13” or 21” travel

2.5”x3”x22” outer dimension (as is, without motor)

¼-20 threaded holes on a 1.5”x2” hole pattern, which matches three mounting locations along the axis

Can be used with Nema 17 or Nema 23 motor

Complementary hole pattern in three spots along the rail that can bolt to the puck

Here are a few DIY projects for all you astronomy enthusiast out there which can be done with acces to 3d printer.

Ultrascope smartphone telescope

Ultrascope is a 3d printed telescope which uses Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone with high resolution camera to get pictures and light curves from space objects. Project is developed by James Parr from Open Space Agency.

All the information about function and construction of the Ultrascope are available at:

PiKon, the 3d printed telescope attachment for Raspberry Pi camera

PiKon is a low cost project where a 3d printed mount is used to attach Raspberry Pi camera to Newtonian reflector telescope to get 5MP resolution astrophotogaphs. Project was developed by University of Sheffield in cooperation with Alternative Photonics.

Printonian, the 3D printed DIY Dobsonian telescope

From Printonian project description:

This thing is a 3D printed Dobsonian telescope designed for an 8" primary mirror with a focal length of 48". The optical tube assembly consists of aluminum extrusions attached with 3D printed ribs designed for standard hardware and covered with cardboard tubing. The optical tube was mounted onto a base that was made from 3/4" baltic birch plywood cut on a CNC router. The bottom base plates are separated with plastic bearings to allow for control.

Functionalize F-Electric conductive filament is new type of filament with much improved conductivity properties. It claims to be world' most conductive filament with “one thousand times more conductive than filament available today", and "enables anyone to print circuits, wires, sensors, power connectors, and other electrical components inside projects printed from popular PLA-capable 3D printers.”

With conductivity lower then the 1 ohm/cm which they demonstrate in measurements on video ,it looks like it is “the world’s most electrically conductive 3D printing (plastic) filament that enables electronic or electromechanical capabilities to be designed right into the structure of printed parts.” Conductive 3d printing filaments available on the market mostly measure in the 1,000 – 10,000 ohms/cm range.

Possessing that kind of electrical properties, it can be used to build all sorts of interesting objects like this 3d printed levitator device:

GMASS™ is a patent pending specially-formulated high-density ABS-based filament for 3D printing applications. It offers the ability to rapidly prototype high-density components. Using a variety of metallic fillers, it has a density approaching traditional metals, while offering the design flexibility of ABS plastic. Now your plastic parts can have the weight and feel of metal castings! Colored filament is available in limited configurations to allow further design enhancements.

The non-toxic fillers in GMASS™ make it an excellent choice for radiation shielding without the environmental impact of lead. While designed for rapid prototyping, GMASS™ also makes an excellent material for low-quantity additive manufacturing.

Note that stated densities are for the filled filament material. Printed part densities may vary due to printer processing parameters, and should be confirmed by the user prior to use.

PROCESSING NOTES:

Recommended printing temperature: 230C

Recommended printing speed: 40 – 90 mm/s

We recommend using a heated bed: 100 – 110C

Advised nozzle size: 0.5 - 0.6 mm

Note: The filament will have a higher likelihood of clogging smaller nozzles such as 0.4mm and smaller because of the tungsten particles. Therefore a larger size nozzle is recommended.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

A heated bed should be used to prevent warping

The tungsten in the filament will wear down the brass nozzle after several hours of printing. Check nozzle before each print and replaced if worn.

To ensure proper adhesion to print bed, a small amount of ABS slurry can be applied to the bed before starting to print.

To achieve maximum density, you may need to increase the flow rate about 5 – 10%. We have also found that using a larger nozzle but using a 0.4mm size nozzle in the software settings will give you better density.

Note: Print at 100% in-fill to achieve full density on your printed parts.

Flux is a new delta 3d printer that has easily exchangeable tool heads and integrated 3d scanner. Currently available tool heads are 3d printing head and laser engraver head with several modules under development like: a dual extruder, a ceramics extruder, and a pastry extruder.

There are more and more 3d printers focused on very large education market and they mostly feature two main things: some sort of protection against children touching the heated parts and some sort of print job queuing.

That tells me that we live in safety obsessed lawsuit culture (I had to buy and bring to school a set of carving technical knives at age of 10 as part of technical curricula) and that those features will not be sufficient if you want to sell in that market. We will see what will future bring in this field. Kids will have to learn 3d printing soon ...

Nov 11, 2014

Here is a new small 3d printer project that uses junk computer parts to create a low cost 3d printer. You will need three stepper motors from CD/DVD drives, one NEMA17 motor and some other parts. Entire setup will cost you under 100 US dollars.

Nov 8, 2014

Group of students on Delft University of Technology made a DIY metal 3d printer based on MIG welder and Prusa i3. Their goal is to get a better DIY metal 3d printer and improve current welder based designs. There are several MIG welder projects like Michigan Tech's Delta this project is based on, but non of them was based on common 3d printer design like Prusa i3.

The project is under development and they will publish the results in a paper.

Easel is a very easy browser based 3d design CAD software you can now run on a Raspberry Pi thanks to this tutorial by Sacha.

It is a small hack that could be used in specific situations, ie.: if you don't want to expose your more expensive design computer to workshop environment or maybe in educational setting where cheaper hardware is more affordable ...

latest version of Raspian and Epiphany browser (type "sudo apt-get update" followed by "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" in a terminal window if you don't have Epiphany installed)

Raspberry Pi Model B (hardware I tested on). Model B+, and compute module should work. I don't know if this will work on Model A, I suspect it will, but it will be even slower. Large/intricate designs might cause memory problems on the model A.

Some kind of Gcode sender

I like GRBL Controller, it's more feature-filled and stable than Universal Gcode Sender

Nov 7, 2014

European Space Agency wants to 3d print a manned Lunar base.Similar to Sinterhab concept they want to use rover robots to 3d print with Moon surface material over inflated and pressurized surface.

From project description:

Could astronauts one day be printing rather than building a base on the Moon? In 2013 ESA, working with industrial partners, proved that 3D printing using lunar material was feasible in principle. Since then, work continues to investigate the technique. The shielding against radiation provided by a 3D-printed block of simulated lunar regolith was measured, providing important inputs for next-stage designs...

Soon the Agency is due to investigate another lunar 3D printing method, harnessing concentrated sunlight to melt regolith rather than using a binding liquid. But how might lunar 3D printing one day be used in practice? Foster+Partners, contributing architectural concepts for the original study, put together this outline of a hypothetical mission to 3D-print an entire a lunar base, illustrating the design factors that steered them in their work.

The rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole was chosen for the base location. The Moon’s rotation is such that the Sun only grazes its poles at low angles. The result is a near-constant ‘peak of eternal light’ along the rim of Shackleton Crater, beside regions of permanent shadow. Building in the vicinity of such a site would offer plentiful solar power, and relief from the extremes of heat and cold found across the rest of the Moon.

In reality any lunar base remains firmly on the drawing board, but each small step forward in research makes future lunar colonisation a little more feasible. In November 2014 more than 350 experts came together for a two-day Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications workshop at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. They discussed the potential of 3D printing – also known as Additive Manufacturing – to transform the way the space industry operates and begin preparing common standards for its use.

Here is an interesting DLP SLA 3d printer design that can be used with almost any DLP projector. It is a cylindrical resin container with z motion add-on that enables you to use it as resin vat under a projector.

Almost every DLP projector can be used. We do not recommend any modification to your projector (unless you really know what you are doing and want to void its warranty): instead, we provide you with a list of compatible projectors we already tested. Should you want to buy another model, we also provide a set of technical specifications that meets our requirements.

For jewelry and castable resin for metals a FullHD projector will provide the best results.

versatile: Just by adjusting the projector height, you can go from printing very detailed object, like jewelry molds, from bigger parts up to 10cm diameter by 10 cm tall. This means that LumiPocket can be used to print many different objects, not just tiny parts!

fast:With the best projector we tested (AcerP1500) and our recommended resin (FuntToDo IB) the curing time per layer can be as low as 0,7 seconds, with a printing area of 10x5cm. With a ~320$ projector like the Optoma DX325 or the Acer x1240/60, curing time per layer is about 3-7 seconds, that is still faster than even more expensive FDM printers, and remember that with DLP projection, printing speed is not affected by object complexity, or by the number of parts to be printed on the same tray.

reliable: and requires little maintenance(Goodbye, disposable vats and expensive non-stick coating) With our top projection system, we removed one the most annoying parts related with light curing resin: the need to replace often the printing vat, a delicate transparent contianer for the resin, that does also need expensive anti-sticiing coatings, often difficult to apply that last only for a certain number of prints before start degrading.Projecting from above, we removed the need for a special vat, and it will double its function of printing vat and resin container with its cover for storing the resin. You can have one for each type of resin you have and changing material on your printer is as simple as swapping the vats.

really easy to use: We designed a cross plaftorm software that takes care of everything: you just need to load a .STL file and it will take care of the slicing and printing. If you don't have 3d modeling knowledge, you can use our integrated 3d search engine that will let you browse online for 3d models , our use our basic templates to print many customizable objects, from Litophanes to personalized rings or keychains. It supports the newest input technologies like the Leap Motion, an innovative devide able to track your gestures and hands movements, providing a new way to explore and model 3d objects.

Carter Hurd is robotics enthusiast who developed this transformable 3d printed wheel that can go across different terrains and surface textures. It has a smooth side and transforms into spiked configuration when it needs more traction and grip.
Hopefully Carter will open source the design ...

Update: Carter replied to me that he will publish the design files and paper on the wheel soon on his homepage ... Thnx Carter!

Nov 6, 2014

Here is new 3d printed speaker project where the membrane is also 3d printed. It was designed to be printed on resin based machines.
It was developed by madaeon who is also working on LumiPocket resin printer.
It goes without saying that you will need some wire and magnets to get some sound out :-)

Nov 3, 2014

Wearable technology is hot new tech trend that promises to change the way we interact with everything and improve human health.
RetroBand is open source project of a wearable 3d printable activity tracker armband you can make yourself. It can be connected to mobile app to display information.
Cool project ...

Tech specs:

Processor : ATmega328 - 3.3v (8MHz)

32KB Flash(2KB is shared for Bootloader), 2KB RAM, 1KB EEPROM

Connected with Android exclusive app(supported over v.4.0).

Calculating calories based on step count.

Accumulating calorie data and displaying statistics in a monthly/daily/hourly data

Real-time check of the change of the 3-axis values measured by accelerometer

Dremel is well known tool brand which has big international distribution network and now they alos have their own brand 3d printer called Dremel 3D Idea Builder. It is fully enclosed single extruder machine which prints in PLA only and is priced in 1000 USD range. We will see how the market reacts ...

Dremel 3d printer presentation for Make:

Dremel 3D Idea Builder tech specs:

Build Volume: 9" x 5.9" x 5.5" / 230 mm x 150 mm x 140 mm

Layer Thickness: 4 mil | 0.004 inches 100 microns | 0.10 mm

SD Card: Up to 32GB in size /3D20 will not work with SD cards larger than 32GB

This Dremel machine looks like it was based on downgraded Flashforge Dreamer which has higher price but features dual extrusion and ABS support. Maybe this will be in next iteration of Dremel 3d printer?
The entire machine was probably developed in partnership with Flashforge ...

Nov 2, 2014

You can see the presentation, build guide and upgrades for K8400 3d printer here.
Velleman is European DIY giant and had a very successful run with their K8200 3d printer (3Drag). Meet the successor: the Vertex K8400 dual head 3d printer.

Very useful universal spool stand which is fully 3d printable developed by Creative Tools. Cool! Will print and use it :-)

From spool stand description:

A fully 3D-printable rotating stand for filament spools, designed to be easily made without the need for fasteners such as screws, nuts, shafts, glue, etc. Every single component in this spool holder comes right from your 3D printer's filament.

The spool holder's spindle is shaped to fit the vast majority of commonly used filament spools with shaft holes ranging from 16 mm to 62 mm in diameter. It is also compatible with spool-less filament coils.The spindle which holds the spool's weight rotates on its own roller wheels, which makes it turn effortlessly.

The spool holder included an arm for filament guide tubes of both common sizes 1.75 mm and 3.0 mm. The arm also contains a pocket for inserting a piece of sponge which acts a a filament filter - thus keeping the filament clean and lubricated.

... and beside children they will also teach me. I just found out about Maker Club, and I really like the idea behind it. They provide very detailed guides and all the resources to learn robotics. They devlop electronics and mobile apps to control their projects.

From Maker Club page:

Born in Brighton, UK, Maker Club has single mission - to make learning fun. We’re based in the cities most dynamic workspace, The Fusebox, a collection of start-ups, dreamers and thought leaders that try and make the world a slightly better place.

Our vision is to make learning about electronics and coding fun, accessible and relevant to young peoples lives. When you add micro controllers, servos and sensors to 3D printing, the possibilities are limitless and we want to harness that power to inspire the next generation of inventors.

We’re developing an ecosystem where people can learn, build, collaborate and even sell their robotic creations with the aid of a learning platform, marketplace and an intuitive mobile application - but, this is just the beginning. We’d love to hear from you, so why not get in touch with us today.

As far as I see most of their stuff is under CC license that is great for me as Open Source supporter.

Here is their homepage where you can get full building instructions, code and STL files for their robots:

Peter Borges deigned 3D Fabrication Desk workstation that can be cnc laser cut from plywood as a part of renovation at Prince Lab. Hopefully some day the deigns will be fully available and open sourced. Now there are just some low-res image templates at project page.

From project description:

A workstation created in response to the need for dynamic design spaces as part of Prince Lab transitions into a more maker friendly facility.

Brown University School of Engineering recently embarked on a partial renovation of Prince Lab to facilitate a more interdisciplinary and creative approach to solve design problems. The space is largely based off of the recent proliferation of maker spaces across the globe.

You want to design something and cut it on a CNC but you don't have a CNC? No problem!

Here is a tutorial by Jonathan Odom on how to design something in CAD, make paper cutting template and then cut it by hand. It's a sort of manual digital fabrication. You can call it contradiction-in-terms, but hey, if it's stupid and works, then it is not stupid.

Since I don't have a CNC or access to it (but I will get one some day) I find this useful since I could create some simpler smaller projects.

Jonathan designed and made a wooden stand for a laptop using simple tools and materials: